The Hammock Blog

Megan P.: My favorite right now is The New Yorker. My parents bought me a subscription for Christmas in 2007, and I swear I'll be a lifelong subscriber. I like it because it's the perfect mix of current events, pop culture news, and creative writing. Basically, it encompasses everything I love into one book.

Bill: Garden & Gun. The first time I saw Garden & Gun, the title grabbed me, of course. Flipping through it (in a vet's office), I was amazed to see how the magazine somehow brought the splendors as well as the commonplaces of Southern life into a kind of balance, without diminishing their disparities. The photos are always top-notch and the writing often inspired—where else could you find Nashville rocker Marshall Chapman describe her mother taking a moment from hosting tea party to potshot a squirrel, and do it in such a way that we nod our heads and say approvingly "of course she did."? The essence of the contradictions that are the South, for good and bad, pours forth from every page.

Barbara L.: Domino because it gave me so many good ideas for my house, but sadly now it's closed it doors, so I'm going to have a find a new favorite.

Lisa: I like the Kraft Foods magazine. Food & Family was sent to me I guess because I was on a list. They are no longer a print magazine but rather digital. I prefer the print. The pictures and easy recipes made me excited about making something new for dinner.

Also my fave for the family is Wild Animal Baby. It's almost like a little book, and it encourages me and the kids to sit down and read and learn about animals.

Summer: My favorite magazine is Texas Monthly and has been for years. I interned for them in college, so I have a special place in my heart for them from my young and crazy days. But these days, when our copy hits the mailbox, I can't wait to see what they've done with the cover! My favorite cover ever of theirs may just be the one they did featuring Willie Nelson in black and white. No words, but it spoke volumes.

Rex: The New Yorker has been my favorite magazine for many years. There are many reasons why, but the most important one is the quality of writing one finds in its pages. I'm especially a fan of their longer non-fiction pieces and even go back and re-read earlier writings by John McPhee and other legendary New Yorker writers. It's definitely the magazine I would choose if I had to pick only one to take to a deserted island. In fact, taking a stack of New Yorkers to a deserted island sounds pretty appealing to me.

Magazines have been a part of my life since childhood. Until I was about 40-years-old, my family or I (as a student) had a subscription to Time magazine. I read it as a kid and it had a lot of influence on my love of magazines. And of course, we had a family subscription to The National Geographic and my mother got Southern Living and The Saturday Evening Post. Whenever there was a school fund-raising drive that involved magazines, my mom would purchase a year's worth of Life or Look magazines or Better Homes and Gardens.

However, my favorite magazine as a teenager—and for that reason, perhaps of all time—was Mad. It was edgy and irreverent and just a little bit outside the boundary of what my parents would approve if they had actually looked or read it. However, they didn't. Mad magazine played a role in my life that shows like Jon Stewart's or Saturday Night Live do for today's high school and college students. I think sometimes we can learn about—and perhaps, more about—contemporary issues and culture through satire and comedy than through the front door. To know why something is funny, you have to understand the event or person being mocked. Trying to "get" the jokes in Mad helped me become fascinated with politics, pop culture and media of the day.